Thinking Out Loud - Obama and Blago-Gate

Who knew what and when did they know it? These are questions that lots of people are asking. And 47% of Americans believe that the President-elect is not telling the truth about the Gov. Blagojevich scandal.

Obama and his transition team all say that they did not have any contact with the governor about the selection of his replacement, the Senate seat Blagojevich has been accused of trying to sell.

This flies in the face of evidence to the contrary. On November 23, 2008, David Axelrod told Fox News of Chicago that Oabam had been in contact with Governor Blagojevich.

If you go the ABCNews website, Political Punch by Jake Tapper, http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/12/questions-arise.html , you will find this notice in place of the YouTube video about this interview. "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Fox Television Stations, Inc." Also, the website itself cycles through and eventually causes my browser to crash. In the article about the connections between Blagojevich and Obama (as well as Rahm Emmanuel, Obama's new White House Chief of Staff), there are many references (and later corrections) showing a rather close relationship between the President-elect and the Illinois Governor.

YouTube also has a similar statement on their own site. If you go to the Fox website and try to read the transcript of the interview, the comments are n longer there.

Lets look at some of the statement made about the extent of any involvement.

Axelrod on November 23, 2008: "I know he's talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them."

Axelrod today: "I was mistaken when I told an interviewer last month that the President-elect has spoken directly to Governor Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy. They did not then or at any time discuss the subject."

Obama: "I had no contact with the governor or his office and so we were not, I was not aware of what was happening."

Blagojevich on November 11, 2008 (concerning the Obama team and the vacated seat): "They're not willing to give me anything except appreciation. (Expletive) them."

Here's the bottom line on all of this. It just doesn't make sense. As Judge Judy is fond of saying, "If it don't make sense, it ain't true."

Why wouldn't Obama talk to the Governor about his seat when he officially announced his resignation from the Senate after the election? It would be a common courtesy. That would make sense.

If Blagojevich knew who Obama wanted to fill his seat, someone would have had to tell him. Obama, Axelrod or Emanuel, or someone from the transition team, right? That would make sense.

But what doesn't make sense is that Obama didn't speak to the Governor. It doesn't make sense that David Axelrod, a savvy political columnist / consultant / campaign advisor, would misspeak on a national news network.

If the Governor tried to solicit money or power from the Obama team for the filling of the former Illinois Senator's seat, and they said no (as is obvious from the legal wire tapping transcripts), why would they not tell the FBI? Why would they say there was no contact? Why this elaborate duck, dodge and evade charade with the American public? It just doesn't make sense.

I don't believe the President-elect is guilty of anything more than not being honest with the public about knowing about the scam. I am certain he wasn't involved in any pay to play scheme, as evidenced by the tapes themselves. I don't think there was any duplicity on the part of the President-elect and his team. I just don't understand why a man who ran on the idea of government transparency would be so vague and not forthcoming before he even officially assumes the office.

With so much else facing this country now and the foreseeable future, we don't need such a trifling bit of Chicago-style politics and small minded criminality to deflect from the serious work we all have ahead of us.

As usual, you can say I'm all washed up. Or you can say, yea, it just doesn't make sense. But either way, this is just me, thinking out loud.

Have a great day!

Sources:

Political Punch

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/12/questions-arise.html

FOXNews.com - Transcript: David Axelrod on "FOX News Sunday"

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,456508,00.html

FOXNews.com Transition Tracker

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/12/09/obama-contact-illinois-governor-vacated-senate-seat/